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Monday, August 12, 2013

Doing "Bulk Imports" to OpenStreetMap

Uploading existing datasets of any significant size ("bulk imports") to OpenStreetMap involves serious consideration, above that of ordinary updates and edits.I have done bulk imports to OSM before for UD/Newark Data. I used shp2osm (http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Shp2osm) to convert from shapefile to osm format and then used JOSM (http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/JOSM) to compare to osm data, edit where needed, and upload the data/changes.

OSM gives priority to smaller edits, as part of its grassroots philosophy. Partially because of this, it's important to tread lightly when doing bulk updates. That's why I like JOSM. I can see the existing data and how my updates will change that (if so) or potentially create duplicates. The imports guidelines link (http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Import/Guidelines) is especially helpful in understanding norms and rules for updates.